[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lechuck.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:350: Not even being dead can stop the most fearsome pirates.]]

Sometimes the most scurvy and fearsome of {{Pirates}}, even after being sent to Davy Jones' locker, just don't stay in their watery graves. Instead, they continue to terrorize the seas as fearsome undead scourges, complete with a GhostShip crewed by the damned. Despite the name, the Ghost Pirate trope includes all forms of undead pirates, including zombie or skeletal variants.

Occasionally, their sojourn as the living dead is due to a terrible curse that keeps them sailing (which may or may not involve [[HollywoodVoodoo voodoo]]). Other times, they're just [[LikeABadassOutOfHell too badass]] to stay in hell.

Legends of ghost ships and ghost pirates alike may derive from the tale of the ''FlyingDutchman'', a phantom ship reportedly doomed to sail the oceans for eternity.

Of course, not all [[GhostShip Ghost Ships]] have ghost pirates. This is a common form of NinjaPirateZombieRobot.

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]* While she dose not look the part Captain Liliana from [[QueensBlade Queen's Blade Rebellion]] is an Undead Prirate Captain and her pirate crew are walking skeletons that are the only ones that look the part. * Brook from ''Manga/OnePiece'', who is a living skeleton brought back by the powers of his Devil Fruit after he died once. Surprisingly for this trope, he's a good guy!** ''Manga/OnePiece'' also has Gecko Moria's crew, of which only four members are alive, the rest being zombies.** Subverted with Vander Decken, who sails on the infamous underwater ship Flying Dutchman like his real-life counterpart and is believed to be a ghost pirate on a cursed ship, but actually is just a regular [[FishPeople fishman]] pirate. Rather than being the ghost of the infamous Vander Decken, the one the Straw Hats encounter is actually his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Vander Decken ''IX''. Not that it makes him more of a nice guy.* The pirates from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' are more like TechnicallyLivingZombie Pirates under the control of an EldritchAbomination.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]* At least two ghost pirates have appeared in TheDCU, both of them historical characters that used to have their own series. The Black Pirate appeared as a ghost in ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'' and Captain Fear in the ''Dr. Thirteen'' mini-series.** Bizarrely, Captain Fear might be able to die again, implying that there are tiers for this sort of thing.* ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', the ShowWithinAShow from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.* In one ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' story, the titular character fights an undead Blackbeard.* ''Comicbook/ManThing'' features a shipful of these laboring under an ancient curse.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]* ''[[Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi Dungeon Keeper Ami]]'' features a sizeable undead fleet in the opening stages of the battle of Dreadfog Island. ''Flying'' undead galleons and frigates pitted against ''[[CoolVersusAwesome airships]]''. And then a giant flying Octopus, but that's [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial another Trope entirely]]...%%* A ghost pirate named Cortez appears in ''Fanfic/YuGiOhTheThousandYearDoor'' and is also present in the remake, but aside from the name, he's the same character InNameOnly.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]%%* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is full of these, particularly in the first film.%%* The Disney movie ''Blackbeard's Ghost''. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.* DVD menus of the original version of ''Film/TheFog'' make it seem that the film's ghosts were pirates (as the menus show a {{hook hand}}ed one) but they are actually a leper colony who drowned with their ship.* The horror film ''[=CrossBones=]'' had a zombified pirate killing contestants of a reality TV show.* A demonic pirate unleashed from a chest is the antagonist of ''Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove''.* ''Curse of Pirate Death'' has a ghost pirate offing students and other random people who discover his treasure.* Los Dark, the villain of the ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' movie.* "Skull and Crossbones" segment from ''Film/CampfireTales1991'' tells a tale of two pirates who wash ashore of an island with cursed PirateBooty. Anyone who tries to take the treasure and/or leave the island has to face the reanimated corpses of the other pirates who got stuck there.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* William Hope Hodgson wrote 'The Ghost Pirates' which you might think you would a trope maker, but by "ghost" he meant bizarre shadow people rising out of the ocean and by "pirate" he meant [[spoiler:they take over and sink the ship it's set on.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]* Jason's attempt to invoke this trope in ''Comicstrip/FoxTrot'' provides the page quote.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' had ghost space pirates that deserve a mention for surviving being the only things for the godmodder to target multiple turns in a row. They also had a massive ship that came back to life with them, and they even made a bunker when THAT got shot down.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* The Black Freighter of ''[[TabletopGame/SeventhSea 7th Sea]]'' draws its undead crew from those who died at sea.* The ''Pirates of the Cursed Seas'' set has an entire faction devoted to these.* The standalone Games Workshop game ''Dreadfleet'' has one of these- Vangheist, captain of the Shadewraith.** And if you take the broader "any undead pirate" definition, the entire Dreadfleet is crewed and captained by them! Count Noctilus is a vampire pirate, King Amanhotep is a mummy pirate, Skretch Half-Dead is a zombie Skaven pirate and Tordrek Hackhart is a cyborg Chaos Dwarf pirate who is no longer truly alive.* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_qJ7esLZo Rattle me Bones]], a game where you must carefully remove items from a pirate's skeleton. If you lack dexterity, the skeleton will RATTLE AND SHAKE![[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]* There was an opera based on the ''FlyingDutchman'' legend.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* The recurring antagonist of the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series, the undead pirate [=LeChuck=], is one of these. At least it explains why he [[JokerImmunity keeps coming back in each game]].** He's even a different type in each: Ghost Pirate, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Pirate]], ''[[TheLegionsOfHell Demon Pirate]]''...** Late in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', [[spoiler:Guybrush becomes a ghost pirate himself after being slain by [=LeChuck=], but later finds a way to repossess his own body, and he's returned to normal at the end of the final chapter.]]* Cervantes from the ''[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur]]'' series is a zombie/ghost pirate thanks to the power of the evil sword Soul Edge.* Played with in ''RatchetAndClank 3'' with the SpacePirate ghosts. ''[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Robot]]'' [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Space Pirate Ghosts]].** And a swarm of actual robot pirate ghosts proves to be the BigBad of ''Quest For Booty''.* Cortez the Pirate King from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' is a large collection of bones and commands a crew of GhostLights.%%** Another undead pirate from the Mario franchise is Captain Skull, a Boss from ''[[VideoGame/WarioWorld Wario World]]''* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' has the player's party board a GhostShip full of pirates. [[spoiler:They're actually just putting on an act, and aren't ghosts at all. Later, though, the ship is attacked by a real ghost ship.]]* One of Vyse's specials from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' involves summoning a pirate ghost to up the party's defense.** Not to mention one of the discoveries that can be found in the game is a ghost ship.* There's more than one quest chain in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' involving undead pirates.* In one point in ''{{Arcanum}}'', you need to get a ship. There are three ways to do this, and one is by laying your hands on a ghost ship belonging to a cursed undead pirate.* The main antagonists of ''[[Franchise/AloneInTheDark Alone in the Dark 2]]'' were a band of zombified pirates kept "alive" though voodoo.* The ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' series has about one per game, with one unnamed boss in the third game, Captain Coin in the fourth game and the boss Captain Skull in ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'' being ghost pirates. Or pirate ghosts. Or both.* Barboros' old crew appear as these in ''ZackAndWiki''. They're insta-kill as they scare you to death if you get to close.* There are skeleton pirates in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyV'''s DerelictGraveyard dungeon.* There are a couple levels in the first world of ''DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter'' which involve ghost pirates, though they're only [[TheGoomba Baki]] which can float and cannot be punched. The boss of the world, however, is just a normal, old pirate captain... [[BaitAndSwitchBoss until one hit kills him and he turns into a giant ghost pirate.]]* The antagonists of ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}} Adventure'' are called the "Ghost Pirates", though they're actually not ghosts at all... more like robots. [[spoiler:Fitting, seeing as [[HijackedByGanon Eggman and Eggman Nega]] built 'em.]]* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable II}}'' one of the side quests in Bloodstone involves you fighting a fearsome pirate ghost in order to take control of his fully automated ship to reach his treasure.* ''VideoGame/GhostPiratesOfVoojuIsland'' has a main cast of not one, but two ghost pirates, and a ghost witch-doctor.* ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}'' features both friendly ghost pirates and unfriendly zombie-pirates.* The second ''BenJordan'' game has a GhostShip which is still haunted by its captain, determined to protect his treasure.* ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' flavour text on Neural Computer (cargo) says that one of their functions is maintaining a viable imitation while the pilot's brain is blacked out in a maneuver... which, since the computer doesn't always die with the pilot, "explain the reports of zombie mercenaries".* The skeleton pirates in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames''.* Spinal of ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' fame is a skeletal example. His stage's background might apply as well: it's a galley full of skeleton rowers.* The "Ghost Ship" level of the original ''VideoGame/MediEvil'' had you fighting your way through skeleton pirates to take over their ship. In the UpdatedRerelease for PSP, the level is preceded with a harbour filled with acrobatic skeleton pirates.* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has an explicit ghost skin for the pirate champion Gangplank.* The BonusBoss Deadbeard from ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''.* The Bermuda Triangle level in ''[[VideoGame/MontyMole Impossamole]]'' has [[GoddamnedBats swarms of]] [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible pirate ghosts]].* In ''VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles: 13th Skull'', the {{player character}} is summoned to the Louisiana bayou by a woman whose husband has gone missing. Their young daughter maintains that a ghost pirate was responsible for his abduction.* In ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'', Kunkka's backstory hints that he might have been killed in the crash that destroyed his ship. His appearance is perfectly human though.* Foxy is this in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' [[spoiler:regarding that he's one of the shells for a dead child]]. [[MonsterClown Mangle picks up Foxy's paste]] [[spoiler:In the prequel]] [[MultiArmedAndDangerous looking freaky as hell.]]* In ''VideoGame/ThiefII'', Garrett can possibly encounter one while exploring the wreck of his ship. Stealing the pirate's loot causes him to appear as a [[DemonicSpiders Haunt]], and Garrett then has to sneak by him in order to get away and keep the treasure.* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'', ghostly pirates and simply sailors comprise the bulk of the enemies encountered in the ship graveyard towards the end of Act I. One even serves as a [[spoiler:{{treacherous|QuestGiver}}]] QuestGiver!* The Black Cove in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'' is populated by undead pirates, including an undead pirate captain.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooPiratesAhoy'' (although they turn not to be real ghost pirates! [[SarcasmMode What a shock!]])** There were also episodes of the [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo original series]] which had (fake) ghost pirates. And in one episode, ghost vikings as well.** There was also ''ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'', where the zombie pirates ''were'' real [[spoiler:just not all that evil.]]* The ghost pirate crew in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Capt'n Drakken"* The Flying Dutchman in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants''.* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' had an episode featuring ghost pirates, who were [[AnthropomorphicFood skeletons made of licorice.]]* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". There is a discussion over [[InsistentTerminology whether they are ghost pirates or pirate ghosts]].* The ''Garfield's Halloween'' animated special has ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} and Odie dressed as pirates and eventually encountering some real ghost pirates who come looking for their treasure.* Subverted by ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', in which the pirates were actually pulling a ScoobyDooHoax.-->'''Dean:''' Hey, it's that ghost pirate!-->'''Hank:''' Who isn't a ghost. ... Or a pirate even, really.* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' had the ghost of the pirate Ivanka in two or three episodes* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has Youngblood and his crew.* Played with in "The Darkest Fathoms", the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures''. There's a pirate and his crew who dress like their counterparts from the age of sails, but it's also heavily implied that the ghost pirates they pretend to be are real as well.* A group of ghost pirates appeared in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesOfDarkWater''. They tried to capture Ioz and turn him into one of them. Since the only thing that could harm a ghost was another ghost, Ren had to have Tula use her powers to separate his spirit from his body so he could go fight the ghost pirates and save Ioz.* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' had to deal with a crew of these who invaded New York to retrieve their buried treasure after it was uncovered and put on display in a local museum.* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had Timmy wish up a ghost pirate to tell scary stories. The ghost decided to tell the story [[OhCrap of when he and his undead horde laid waste to Dimmsdale]].* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': [[CaptainColorbeard Captain Spitbeard]], along with the ghost cabin boy Swabby, in "Pirates of Ickygloomy".[[/folder]]